Abraham ben David

Who was Abraham ben David?

Rabbeinu Abraham ben David was a Provençal rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, Sefer Halachot of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and Mishne Torah of Maimonides, and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key and important links in the chain of Jewish mystics. He was born in Provence, France, about 1125 CE; died at Posquières, 27 November 1198 CE.

He was the son-in-law of Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne Av Beth Din. He was the father of Rabbeinu Isaac the Blind, a Neoplatonist and important Jewish mystical thinker. The teachers under whose guidance he acquired most of his Talmudic learning were Rabbeinu Moses ben Joseph and Rabbeinu Meshullam of Lunel.

RABaD or RABaD III remained in Lunel after completing his studies, and subsequently became one of the rabbinical authorities of that city. He went to Montpellier, where he remained for a short time, and then moved to Nîmes, where he lived for a considerable period. Rabbeinu Moses ben Judah refers to the rabbinical school of Nîmes, then under Rabbeinu Abraham's direction, as the chief seat of Talmudic learning in Provence.